Awesome Stories 301

Embrace your Body

Taryn Brumfitt wants to help everyone love and embrace their body. Too many people (especially women) feel shame, loathing, and other painful feelings about their bodies. Taryn has taken an amazing journey to get to the place of loving her body and wanting to help others embrace their body. After going from overweight to super fit with competitions, and back to ordinary, she finally found peace in herself. Taryn started the body image movement and created a film called Embrace to inspire others to love themselves and remember that your body is simply a vehicle to pursue your dreams.

India Ramping up Clean Energy

India is dramatically ramping up their new energy production to help bring power to all its citizens. The Ministry of Power has asked to fund 115 gigawatts of renewable power (and 72 GW of traditional power) capacity between 2017 and 2022. If they reach their targets, India may have no need for more coal plants after 2022! Being the second most populous country in the world, this will have a huge impact on climate change. Kudos to the leaders in India for stepping up.

Singing for Hope

Singer-songwriter Crystal Goh lost her voice due to a rare neurological condition called Spasmodic Dysphonia, with no known cause or cure. Unable to speak, she became isolated and began losing hope. Then she decided to write a song about hope to encourage herself. Miraculously, her voice started coming back a little at a time. From this experience, Crystal found empathy and started the Diamonds on the Ground project to spread a message of vulnerability and hope.

10 Habits for Happier Relationships

Kelsey Borresen wants us to have better relationships. Most of us know that healthy relationships take hard work, commitment, and communication. In this article, Kelsey offers 10 habits to support happier relationships. I like the reminders to make the relationship a priority, focus on what we like in the other person, and being generous with compliments. The tips are meant for couples, but really they apply to any relationship, other than the kissing hello and goodbye! PDAs (public displays of affection) with hugs and appropriate touching are good ideas. I generally hug friends and family any time that I see them. Are you getting your daily dose of hugs?

Awesome, Brad! I loved the ambition of India and Crystal’s story of healing. Sometimes I think we expect the miracle of healing to be this overnight thing, but it’s really profound to see how it weaves through time sometimes. How movement is subtle–each day seemingly the same–but we look back and see a profound difference has developed… A truly beautiful story!

Hi Brad, I always feel lifted when I read your blog posts, so I thought I’d take the chance and acknowledge that you brighten up my day with your creative resourcing of Awesome stories, because awesome stories are the best. Peace, Harlon

I love the message that music and stories can be a source of inspiration not only for dealing with all forms of emotional pain, but also for transforming it into hope. The word I immediately think of his perspective, but it is so much more than that. It requires courage, faith, and immense love. We all have a voice to share with the world, and we all have different ways to spread that voice. I love how Crystal has embraced her voice, both physical and mental, to instill both hope and inspiration into the world surrounding her. Thanks for sharing, Brad 😉

An excellent post to begin the New year. I love the ten habits for a happier relationship…they are really good. As I grow older I realise how sad it is that as younger women we tend to see ourselves negatively…..when in fact we are all beautiful in so many ways. When we accept our beauty, inside and out, then we can enjoy the music and life in general. Wishing you a beautiful day….Janet:)